Amity Daffodil Festival Artshow

With only two days to spare, I just finished my mixed-media piece that I'm entering into the Amity Daffodil Festival Artshow!  I'm not sure about it, really.  There are elements that I'm happy with... some, not so much.  But, that's okay.  It's a learning experience... and the joy is in the process.  It's a 10" x 10" canvas.  It shows me that I need to work on layers.  Layers are key to this kind of art and I just haven't played around enough with them.  I also wanted an old, vintage daffodil to use, instead of painting my own, but I couldn't find any that were suitable.  :(  Someone told me she'd send me some... so, if those show up in my inbox, I may do another piece.  Each person can put in two entries.  Each entry needs to have at least one Daffodil, although they do not need to be the focus of the piece.  I did a watercolor one year.... just one big daffodil... but, it was for my mom, for Mother's Day, so it wasn't for sale.  They told me at the end of the show that had it been for sale, I would've sold it!  Yay!

.I'm also participating in two Art House Co-op projects.  One is a 4 x 6 Exchange (called The 4 x 6 Exchange2), where you send in a 4x6 (needs to be able to be sent in a regular envelope) in by March 31st.  Someone, somewhere else in the world, will get your piece and you will get their piece, in exchange.  2000 people have signed up!!  (I'm glad I'm not the one having to keep those exchanges straight!!)  I'm very excited about that project!  I need to get started on it!!!  These are serious artists that are participating and I need to send my best work.  I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can handle already!

The other Art House Co-op project is this - they wanted to get a look at a common space of the people in their online community.  So, they chose the refrigerator!  We were supposed to take a picture of the inside of our frig and print a 4x6 of it.  Ack!!  Mine desperately needed cleaning, so I limited the visability.  Plus, black and white helped, I think.  So, this is my photo for that.

I'm also doing another ATC swap with my Altered Books Yahoo group and also a "tip-in", which I don't know much about.  You create an altered book spread...or maybe it's just one page... and send it to the person who's hosting.  They get the right ones to the right people (we're choosing themes, so they'll all be different) and then we fit them into an existing altered book.  I'm thinking that I'll just make a small book out of the pages from the tip-in swap, instead of adding them to an existing book.

OK.... I'd started a pair of socks for my youngest son, who now has feet the same size as mine, but then I tried to slip it over my heel, after I had about 2" done, and it wouldn't go.  :(  I ripped it out... like a dummy, I didn't check the gauge, first!!!  So, now, I have to do a few inches of garter stitch, so I can figure out my gauge so that I can figure out how many stitches I should be casting on for him.  This is when I need a good movie or TV show....otherwise, I rarely ever watch TV.. I get too bored!  Hmmm....wonder if I can talk my husband and said child out of that Jett Lee movie they're watching and into something else.  ??  Wish me luck!

       ~  Teri

ATC Swap

These are ATC's that I just made for a swap that I'm participating in.  ATC's are Artist Trading Cards.  People trade them, sort of like baseball cards.  Only prettier.  :)  They are the size of a standard playing card, 2.5 x 3.5".  They are supposed to be traded, never sold.  :)

I'd never done one before.  The third one down, in fact, Music Makes the Heart Light, is the first one I'd ever done.  Some people think they're too small to work with.... too confining... they like a big page or canvas to work on.  Others love this little size, because it's less intimidating....not so much space to fill.  I can see both points.  Probably depends on your mood at the time!  :)  This last two weeks, for me, these have been the perfect size.  It does mean having smaller images on hand ("inchies" work well) or being able to print out images that you love - in a smaller format.

This "Boo to You!" one was made for my friend, Jana, who is hosting the swap.  It's up to her to gather them, spread them all out and randomly choose (without looking at the images) however many (if you put in two, you get two back; four, you get four back, etc.......)  for each participant and get them all mailed back to each person in a timely fashion.  I knew that Jana had originally wanted the theme to be Halloween, but we realized we'd run out of time... by the time people got them done and mailed to her, Halloween would be long-gone.  So, then, we decided to make the theme "open"... so, you could do anything you wanted!  But, I knew that Jana wanted Halloween ones, but also Thanksgiving ones... so, I did one of each for her, because I couldn't decide!  :)

I tried some new background techniques on these.  Another great thing about the smaller size.... it's not too much of an investment - either financially, physically or emotionally - because the area is so small!  That's not to say that it didn't still take a lot of time.  I'm not quick about these things.  Of course, I have other things I'm doing in my life, but even when I carve out time to do art and don't have too many interruptions... I only get one done a day...maybe the start of a second one.  But, I never got two completed in a day.

Anyway, they were loads of fun to do... I look forward to doing more!

I hope you enjoy looking at them!

Happy Fall and Happy Halloween!!

      ~   Teri